Dani Jané Vida, the third release by Dani Jané (Spanish guitar, loops, synthesizer, composition), is a lyrical, rhythmically driven title that combines elements of flamenco, Catalan folk, classical music, jazz, and Catalan and U.S. poetry. A graduate of the Conservatori Superior de Música del Liceu (Barcelona), Jané pursued further study (classical, flamenco, jazz, tango) elsewhere in Spain, and in Germany, France, Italy, and India. Among others, Jané has worked with the flamenco fusion ensemble Tío Montero, flautist Neus Plana Turu, and singers Manuel Araya, Marta Casals, Rusó Sala, and Giulietta Vidal. Marcel Torres (second guitar, effects), Pablo Giménez (transverse flute or side-blown flute, Andean panpipe, percussion), and percussionist Pulmon Beatbox accompany Jané on Vida. Backing the core quartet are flamenco singer Pere Martínez, bassist Tomàs Pujol, and drummer-percussionist Martí Hosta.
While studying in Berlín, Jané composed “Preludi” and “El vol de la Vida,” conceived as a classical suite of two movements; about four minutes in, the latter concludes with Martínez’s keening bulerías, with passages from Walt Whitman’s Song of Myself (sung in Spanish-language translation).
“Clara” sets up a subtle interplay between Jané’s guitar and Gimenez on flute, over a subdued but insistent bass and percussion foundation. Jané’s grandfather Miquel Castanys wrote the lyrics to “Les penes de l’amor” (the pain of love) in 1938, adapted to a rumba Jané composed during his Berlin sojourn, in tribute to a forebearer Jané knows only through family stories, photos, and his grandfather’s verses.
“Lau” presents another guitar-flute encounter accented by understated effects and percussion. Jané composed the instrumental “Milonga C.F. 2.0” with reference to his parents’ home, C.F., i.e., Can Finestres, in the province of Girona, where he spent his early years and first studied with a local guitarist. “Lydda,” a tanguillos by Barcelona’s Toti Soler (whom Jané cites as a major influence), wraps the album, wherein guitar and flute trade licks accented with Carnatic-like vocal percussion. Vida gives voice to a new generation of conservatory trained Catalan artists for whom flamenco is but one among myriad influences.
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